And Thus, The Wheel
by Gallifreyan Annihilator
Summary: Poirot Cafe Theme Competition #6: Yoshida Ayumi, contrary to popular belief, is not stupid. Which is why, that particular night, she ends up looking no further than the agency next door, long forgotten, much like the answer she seeks. Maybe, just maybe, she can seek some help.


**Summary:** Yoshida Ayumi, contrary to popular belief, is not _stupid_. Which is why, that particular night, she ends up looking no further than the agency next door, long forgotten, much like the answer she seeks. Maybe, just maybe, she can seek some help.

**Written for:** Poirot Cafe's Competition #6, themed _Help_. I may have gotten a bit carried away and went extremely off-prompt, but I hope my intentions are still clear within the fic. A lot of people are receiving/being denied help in this fic, huh...

**GA:** What am I doing with my life. AU/alternate ending where Shinichi de-ages ten years every, well, ten years. Haibara doesn't, but that's because she takes a different version of the APTX. Also, the quote was made by me. Yes. Those are my initials.

Enjoy!

* * *

**AND THUS, THE WHEEL**

* * *

"And thus the wheel of fate spins on, its spokes poking holes in the same fallacies every revolution."

-SMF

* * *

Yoshida Ayumi is not _stupid_. She's naive, yes, and perhaps too nice for her own good, admittedly to a fault. But she's anything but stupid.

And that in itself is why she's standing in front of the Mouri Detective Agency, an old relic of the past with boarded up windows and a faded _Coming Soon!_ flyer. The dojo in its stead has been _coming soon_ for a long while, but she still knows that the woman she's looking for will be behind those walls, as she's been every day after nine o'clock for four years and eight months. Exactly.

She hesitates to knock on the door, her sixteen-year old body freezing at the thought of what may lie ahead. Answers to questions she's forced herself to ask? Even more dead ends that all stop at the name she doesn't want to hear? The thought scares her, if she has to be completely honest with herself, the idea that the trail will go cold and yet, _and yet_, become so hot that she can't possibly continue the search for clues that she has put herself on.

Hot, cold, what does it matter anymore? All that matters is the one truth, if what Conan has told her for years is anything to go by. With one final shake of her head, Ayumi knocks on the door.

* * *

"_Conan? Where have you gone? We've been worried sick!" She's not the only one sick, apparently, as Edogawa Conan groans in what seems like pain, and the voice of Haibara Ai resonates in the background for him to turn the damned phone off. "Listen, if you're not feeling good, the boys and I can-"_

"_No!" His voice is insistent, and just the tiniest bit panicked, something unusual for the usually confident high school detective. "I'm fine, Ayumi, I just- I just need some rest, okay? Go find a case or something."_

_She plays nervously with her bottom lip for a moment before nodding, despite Conan's inability to see her. "All right," she says finally, sighing softly. "But get better soon, or I'll have Genta bust down your door." There's a muffled laugh-cough on the other side, along with a yelp as Ai undoubtedly smacks her sick patient upside the head. "We'll see you soon, Conan."_

_The pause between her words and his isn't that long, but noticeable enough for her to worry. "Yeah. See you soon, Ayumi."_

* * *

_The voices that Ayumi hears behind the door before she even makes her presence known as loud, heated and in the middle of an argument. One of them is clearly Ai, her usually soft-spoken eloquence replaced with an angry torrent of insults. "Are you stupid?" She practically shouts, and a slam is heard, perhaps one of her medical cabinets being forced shut. "Shinichi, you can't be serious. Was three years really not enough for you?"_

"_I can handle it this time!" The second voice, however, is not recognizable, even though its squeaky lilt sparks something in her mind. The voice's owner is familiar, too, the name Shinichi resounding with vague memories of a boy beloved by her sister figure. But it can't be the same Shinichi, not when he's been missing - dead - for six years and, hell, would be at least twenty-six regardless. The voice sounds like an elementary schooler, not a suave middle-aged man._

_Ai's speaking again, her anger dissolving into impatience. "You can't handle it _this_ time, because you didn't handle it _last_ time." There's a snort of contempt, another slamming sound, and then a surprised yelp as something crashes onto the ground. "I'm done, Shinichi. I'm not going to make any more antidote because god forbid I die doing it and you find yourself trying to explain away why you disappeared for good."_

_Antidote? Disappeared? Before she can fully comprehend the words, 'Shinichi's' voice ricochets back, angry and disbelieving. "That was...Haibara, you complete _bitch_."_

_A long silence stretches between them, before Ai finally replies, her voice back to the iciness that always sends a chill down the Shounen Tanteidan's collective spines. "All right," she mutters lowly, so quietly that Ayumi has to strain to hear it. "I'll take that title. But if you're looking for assistance, Kudo, you won't find it here."_

_Footsteps draw closer from inside the room, and Ayumi ducks behind the door. She barely has a few seconds to feel grateful for the cover before it swings open, and a dark-haired child storms away, a child of barely three feet yet the aura of somebody who isn't to be provoked. He doesn't notice her, something she feels like she should be glad of but unsure why she should feel thus, and the door slams behind him, a furious bang resounding with only a modicum of the expression she had fleetingly seen on his face._

_After a moment of silence, Ayumi steps away from the door and walks away. Maybe it would be best to visit tomorrow._

* * *

"_We're getting worried!"_

"_Then _stop_ getting worried!"_

_Ayumi doesn't know what she's more upset about, the fact that Conan hasn't let them visit him in two weeks or the fact that he has the gall to yell at her over the phone when all she's trying to do is be a good friend. "How can we stop getting worried when you're the idiot locking himself up in his room?" There are tears rolling down her cheek now, not many but enough for her to sniff slightly. "Don't do this, Conan! We're your friends, we're here for you-"_

"_Then go away." His voice has turned tired all too quickly, going from the loud-mouthed know-it-all that she knows he can be to the kid who sounds so much older than he really is. It's that voice that makes her hurt the most, where she feels miles away from him even if he's just a few steps inside the house that she's found herself unable to enter. He's changed the locks since she's last used the key he gave her, and that almost hurts worse than their current argument. "I don't need your pity, okay? I'm doing fine, I can handle things by myself."_

_Her vision grows red at the word _pity_, and by the time he finishes his statement, she's close to screaming into the phone. But she steadies herself, holds her breath and counts to ten, finally replies as rationally as she possibly can in her situation. The words that she uses are harsh, but she doesn't care, not now and not later after she's calmed down enough to know what has to be done._

"_Then do things by yourself, for all I care. I'm giving up on you. But for the love of god, Edogawa Conan, I've only been trying to _help_."_

* * *

_Help, help_... That single word still resonates in her as she receives no answer from the knock, and hesitantly opens the door to the would-be dojo. The hinges creak ever so slightly, and it's enough to garner the attention of the woman sitting at a desk that doesn't belong in a martial arts dojo, but has no value anywhere else than where it is sitting at that very moment. "Ayumi," she speaks up, surprised. "Why are you here so late?"

"Ran-neechan..." As soon as she sees Ran's face, sees her voice, she finds it hard to speak. All of those doubts are rushing back, about questions and answers and confusion and the truth and-

"Shouldn't you be at home, sleeping?" The way that Ran looks at her, as though she's till six and that nothing has changed, is what makes her flinch before gathering her wits about her. "It's dangerous in here, with all the boards and-"

"Ran-neechan, I need to talk to you." Her words spill out of her mouth of their own volition, and she realizes, quite suddenly and quite unexpectedly, that the word _help_ is trembling on her upper lip. It doesn't make it all the way out, but her next words are the ones that she want to say anyways, and they help sweep away the clutter in her mind, the puzzle pieces that she would usually leave laying around for Conan but have long since been abandoned.

She takes a deep breath, looks straight at Mouri Ran as though her life depends on it, and speaks.

"Tell me about Kudo Shinichi."

* * *

**GA:** Aaaaaand I have officially finished my very first competition piece for PC! It's...shorter than I thought it would be...and also not as dramatic...but I still like how it turned out. Is it a bit AU-ish for the competition? I have no idea. Anyways, I hope you guys liked it, and as always.

'Til next time!

_~G. Annihilator_


End file.
